27 January 2016, Lagos – The Nigeria Customs Service on Tuesday said it was planning to raise the sum of N1tn as revenue for the Federal Government in the 2016 fiscal period.

Hameed Ali, Comptroller-General of Customs

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd) disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on the sidelines of an event to celebrate the International Customs Day.

He said the service had yet to receive any revenue target from the Federal Government for this fiscal year, but added that the current leadership would continue to ensure that all revenue leakages were blocked.

The Customs CG noted that the adoption of various electronic measures had assisted in boosting revenue in the last few months.

He said, “We hope and are working to block all leakages and making sure that our system works perfectly; and hopefully, the policy of government will also be in our favour; we hope to hit N1tn in 2016.

“The deployment of e-Customs has boosted the Customs role of providing connectivity between nations divided by artificial borders. Collection of revenue and interception of harmful imports have been made easier with the help of technology.

“In line with the change mantra of the present government, let me remind all operatives and stakeholders alike not to abuse the process and corrupt the system. Any act calculated to distort and compromise the integrity of the e-Customs will not be tolerated and will be met with appropriate sanctions.”

The Secretary General, World Customs Organisation, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, said that customs administrations across the globe had been encouraged to promote the use of Information and Communications Technology in order to collect and safeguard customs duties, flow of goods, and secure cross border trade.